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Saturday, January 18, 2014

Birchbox: January 2014 Review

Hi, friends! I've been feeling kind of "blah" all day (must be the sudden snow storm, or maybe the "just got back to school" blues). Either way, I received my first Birchbox of the year recently, so that means it's time for my January Birchbox review!

Birchbox? What's that? - Birchbox is a monthly beauty and lifestyle subscription service. It sends 4-5 deluxe samples that are curated to your beauty profile. It is $10 a month, and has a wonderful rewards program, in which you can earn points for reviewing products and making purchases in the Birchbox Shop. You can then redeem those points for full-sized products in the Birchbox Shop! It's probably the best rewards program out there, in my opinion, which was one of the big draws in me signing up. If you're interested in subscribing to Birchbox, I would love it if you used my referral link. If you do, we each get 50 free points ($5) to use in the Birchbox shop! Everybody wins!

It arrived in the usual cardboard box. When I gather enough of them, I plan on doing some sort of creative craft with them that way they don't go to waste. Probably something with makeup storage. Any ideas? What have you done with yours?

This month's theme was "Go Time." The products never correspond to the theme, so I don't know why they bothered, but oh well.

We also got some inspirational cards with this month's box. Some people thought they were garbage, but I like them. Everyone could use a little reminder as to how lovely they are.

Some people whine whenever we get Coastal Scents, but I personally love their eyeshadows. Any brand that brings affordable, quality eyeshadows to all is a friend of mine. I've heard great things about the formulation and color selection in this palette, and it's supposed to be one of the best (if not the best) dupes for the Urban Decay Naked 1 & 2 palettes. I love neutral eyeshadow (brown brings out the blue in my eyes) so I'm excited to try these! The palette sells for $20 on Coastal Scents' website, but it's selling in the BB Shop for $34 since it includes three brushes. Personally, if I were to purchase it, I would just go for the $20 palette alone, but if I'm spending BB points then I'm less stingy.

I can always use more shampoo, and Fekkai is known to be a good brand. The first ingredient after water is a sulfate, which makes me wary. I've been staying sulfate-free since August, but maybe the olive oil will negate some of the soap-induced dryness. Besides, as a poor college student, who am I to pass up shampoo? I'll keep you updated!

I love using shampoo and conditioner duos. To my happy surprise, there are no silicones in this! I will gladly try this and let you know if it stands up to my beloved Wen (which was a 2013 Favorite, mind you).Harvey Prince Journey(Full-Size: $50 for 50 mL)(Sample-Size: $1.75 for 1.5 mL)

I dislike getting perfume samples in subscription boxes, because everyone has different tastes (and pheromones, for that matter). I tend to gravitate towards fruity/floral/sweet scents, and there are more exotic and mature notes in this, so I don't think I'll like it. I usually like more girly perfumes, and this is much more sophisticated. I think I'll give this to my mother, or trade it away for something else. The packaging is pretty, though.

Burt's Bees is known to be an all-natural brand, and I can always go for more of that in my daily routine. I have a few of their lip balms that I'm happy with, so getting this day cream as this month's "Birchbox Find" was a fun treat. I'm almost out of my Elysee Day Cream, so this will be up next in the roster!

The Stats:

Coastal Scents Palette Sampler: $4

Fekkai Shampoo: $5

Fekkai Conditioner: $5

Harvey Prince Perfume: $1.75

Burt's Bees Day Lotion: $2.50

Total: $18.25

The Best: Definitely the Coastal Scents. I'm so excited to try them out! If I'm super impressed, I may even spend my BB points on the full-size.

The Worst: Probably the Harvey Prince Journey, just because I won't use it.

The Verdict: So, this wasn't the best value a box has had, but I'm happy with 4/5 items that I received, so that's no reason to frown. I have new goodies to play around with and I can't wait!

What did you get in your Birchbox this month? Are you feeling the winter blahs like I am?